Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30009652›Full record

Trial reportIntegrative cancer therapies2018

Intradermal Acupuncture Along with Analgesics for Pain Control in Advanced Cancer Cases: A Pilot, Randomized, Patient-Assessor-Blinded, Controlled Trial.

Kyungsuk Kim, Sanghun Lee

Open access · goldAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Integrative cancer therapies, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
22citing papers in PubMed, 6 pooled it
5.1field-weighted citation impact, top 5% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

22 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 37 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Kyungsuk Kim1 Department of Medical Consilience, Graduate school, Dankook University, Yongin-si, Republic of Korea.
Sanghun Lee1 Department of Medical Consilience, Graduate school, Dankook University, Yongin-si, Republic of Korea.ORCID 0000-0002-0573-9555
Dankook University · KR

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeNinety percent of patients with advanced cancer have moderate to severe pain, and up to 70% of patients with cancer pain do not receive adequate pain relief. This randomized controlled clinical trial was designed to determine the feasibility and evaluate the effects and safety of intradermal acupuncture (IA) in patients who were being administered analgesics for cancer pain.

methodsAdvanced cancer patients experiencing pain were randomly assigned to IA or sham IA treatment for 3 weeks (15 patients for each group), wherein the CV12, bilateral ST25, LI4, LR3, PC06, and Ashi points were selected and stimulated. Follow-up evaluations were conducted 3 weeks after the end of treatments. The grade and dosage of analgesics for cancer pain, pain intensity, quality of life, and safety were assessed.

resultsTwenty-seven patients (90%) completed 6-week trial, and no serious adverse events were associated with either IA or sham IA procedures except the transient side effect such as fatigue. Nine patients in the IA group (64.3%) and 5 in the sham IA group (38.5%) responded to the 3-week intervention. These patients were mostly in the nonopioid and the weak opioid levels of the World Health Organization analgesic ladder. Self-reported pain declined by -1.54 ± 1.45 and -1.15 ± 1.57 in the IA and sham IA groups, respectively, with improved quality of life reported.

conclusionsIA treatment appears feasible and safe for advanced cancer patients. It might reduce analgesic usage in the early World Health Organization analgesic ladder stage cancer patient, though it could not show significant outcome differences due to design limitation of sham IA.

Indexed as

Acupuncture TherapyAnalgesicsFatigueFemaleFollow-Up StudiesHumansMaleMiddle AgedNeoplasmsPainPain ManagementPain MeasurementPilot ProjectsQuality of LifeWorld Health OrganizationAnalgesicsacupunctureadvanced canceranalgesicsintradermalpain management

Identifiers

PMID30009652
PMCPMC6247560
OpenAlexW2883693613

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.